Is Cecilia done talking yet?
Durandal was stalling for as long as she could. Otto couldn't really do anything to her, but by the same token, she couldn't do much to him either.
By now, Otto had pulled out more than one Divine Key. He must have some powerful Divine Key that could mimic others.
Brother, you had something like this and didn't use it to fight the Honkai sooner? You just kept it to yourself and watched Valkyrie after Valkyrie go to their deaths?
If that were all, it wouldn't matter as much, especially given the theory that Otto was deliberately suppressing civilization's progress.
Suppressing civilization's progress could also suppress the strengthening of the Honkai. In a way, it was a method of mutual hindrance.
Durandal was aware of these guiding principles of Schicksal, but she wasn't in a position to comment on them. They were conclusions reached by researchers after extensive study and analysis.
On matters she didn't understand, Durandal had always maintained an attitude of not speaking out of turn.
"Overseer, if you stop now, you can still turn back. We don't have to choose this way to judge the mistakes of your past. I believe humanity will give you a fair historical judgment."
Without a weapon, Durandal was having some trouble against Otto's attacks. She currently had no good way to resolve these past conflicts. Babylon Labs alone had sacrificed thousands of girls with Honkai resistance; there was no need to mention the other labs.
Beneath the towering spire of Schicksal lay buried countless resentful souls and white bones.
The thing that brought the Honkai was not the Honkai itself, but the collective of resentful souls forged by this very tower. And through the transmission of this suffering, this collective became the source of the next tragedy.
Schicksal was like a cycle of suffering, unborn, undying, unstained, unpure.
"Historical mistakes? Were they really mistakes?" Otto didn't think that was a good way to put it. As someone who relied heavily on the legacy of the Previous Era, he knew full well that without external intervention, humanity was like ants before the Honkai.
Without the legacy of the Previous Era, without Herrschers as test subjects, without artificial Stigmata for the Valkyries, the endless Honkai events on Earth would quickly revert human civilization to a primitive state. Only a simple, primitive ape-man society would not face the destruction of its civilization by the Honkai.
But if that were the case, what difference would there be from the disappearance of human civilization?
"Without the organizational structure of the Valkyries, without the artificial Stigmata developed through generations of sacrifices, without the sacrifice of each and every Valkyrie... you ask them. Ask those who have been harmed by the Honkai. Ask them if they are willing to give up any chance of defeating the Honkai."
"Durandal, the reason you can stand here and judge me is not because of the magnitude of the mistakes I've made in history. It's because the man from the future brought more possibilities, more powerful forces, so that the Valkyries could obtain their combat power more cleanly."
"I know this very well in my own heart..."
Otto pointed his spear at Durandal and said coldly, "Without the Honkai, there would be no Honkai events, no Honkai Beasts, no Valkyries. There would be no Kaslana Saintess, and Kallen would not have been torn between sacrifice and battle. She could have wholeheartedly fought against the so-called Schicksal Church to the end, against the organizations that exploit humanity."
"To put it bluntly, the main conflict of the Honkai hanging over our heads has both forced humanity to cooperate and compromise, and restrained humanity's ambition to change the social structure, thereby suppressing the possibility of internal conflicts arising from human progress."
Durandal was at a loss for words. She realized she was no match for her teacher in a battle of wits.
Otto's concise explanation fully demonstrated the tragic suffering brought about by the shifting conflicts of humanity. His words would likely sway more people to support his past choices.
Because the vast majority of surviving humans owed a debt to Schicksal. This was an unavoidable fact.
Even the history books of Academy City acknowledged this.
And now, with Sirin, who identified as a Herrscher, seeking revenge, she would not only fail to gain humanity's approval but might even push Otto to the moral high ground.
Just as Durandal was about to say something, a strange power emanated from the bubble universe within her body.
A Herrscher Core?! Wait, this isn't the power of the Herrscher of the Void's Core!
Crossing the boundary between the Imaginary and the real, Sirin once again passed through the bubble universe within Durandal's body and descended upon this world.
In her hand was a new Herrscher Core. It was so small, as fragile as a tiny gemstone.
But it was, indeed, a Herrscher Core.
"Oh?"
Otto's interest was piqued. He turned his gaze to Sirin.
This meant Sirin had obtained the authority of the next Herrscher Core.
"Where's Cecilia?" Durandal had a bad feeling. She felt the android, whose mind and spirit were so like her mother's, disappear from within her.
"She died. She returned to her android network. She sent all her memories, her will, her spirit, her entire life's experience, and all her love back to the White Tower network, returning this power."
A trace of sadness flickered across Sirin's cold face. Even Cecilia's substitute was like this... Why were they all like this? Giving her affection so freely, and then leaving her just as freely.
She, like Cecilia before her, had once again stood by her side.
She had shown her, through the most sincere action, that even as a Herrscher, she was not alone in facing this terrifying world.
"This is... a part of a Herrscher Core... The rest of the core is distributed throughout the android network. To obtain it is to obtain the power of the android network, a garden of memories and emotions."
Sirin's words puzzled Durandal. She had never seen such a decentralized Herrscher Core. Normally, a Herrscher Core would lose its power if it were shattered. Even the Herrscher Core in Kiana's body had only been restored through resonance with another Herrscher Core.
"As expected, androids can indeed be the condition for the descent of a new Herrscher."
Otto was now more confident in his next move. But before that...
He had to face a "result."
Sirin absorbed the core that the android Cecilia had become into her own body.
"Otto, when all is said and done, you're just trying to use the Herrscher Cores to achieve your own goals. If you were just killing the Second Herrscher for research, you wouldn't have needed to invade her memories to get what you wanted."
Sirin hovered in the air, her mind now filled only with the image of the android Cecilia choosing to end her own life.
She had chosen the most brutal way to break the deadlock.
By turning the android network into the physical manifestation of a Herrscher's descent, and then sacrificing herself to transfer the authority of the network to Sirin, transforming it into a new power for her revenge.
A golden cross of judgment lit up in Sirin's eyes. She cried out:
"Otto! Recite your sins to the Imaginary Space!"